Car door opener and closer



Oct. 16, 1934. w M RR 1- AL 1,977,396- CAR DOOR OPENER AND CLOSER Filed Sept. 25, 1933 Z c i /7" h F) 0 "6 C? Zhweflfqrs 67am 1% Mfr-42 2". w FQZ h J 3011/67. M,

Patented Oct. 16, 1934 UNW'ED STATES can noon OPENER AND CLOSER Glenn W. Merritt and Ralph J. Bower, Bowers ton, Ohio, assignors to The Mining Safety Device Company, Bowerston, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application September 25, 1933, Serial No. 690,868 2 Claims. (01. 254-135) This invention relates to door opening and closing means, and has to do with means for opening and closing doors of railway cars.

Railway car doors are commonly mounted for 5- sliding movement into open and closed positions, and great difiiculty is frequently experienced in opening these doors due to binding thereof. In such cases, it is a common practice to use a pinchbar for opening the door and closing the 'loo same, with resulting damage to the car, particularly if the latter is of wood construction, and a considerable loss of time in forcing the door into open and closed positions. 7

It is known to, provide door openers having clamps or similar members which engage about 'the edge of the .door. In the use of such an opener, however, it is necessary first to open the door sufficiently topermit of insertion of the clamp and this preliminary opening of the door 20.; frequently incurs considerable time and work and damage to the car. This is particularly true where the edge portion of the door fits into a groove or channel in the door post, which is frequently the case. It is also known to provide.

door openers which are permanently associated with the car. This is objectionable in that'it.

necessitates a door opener for each car, which renders the 'cost prohibitive from a practical standpoint." f

One of the main objects of our invention is to provide a door opener and closer which is of light and compact construction so as to be easily carried, can be applied with expedition and facility, and which will open a door from completely -closed position so as to avoid all necessity for preliminary opening of the door before application of the opener thereto. A further object is to provide an opener of the character stated by means of which relatively great power can be 10;; applied to the door-for'opening or closing the latter, and by means of which the door can be subjected to a series of jerks or sudden pulls for imparting desired movement thereto in the case of doors which are in bad condition and tend'to tip and bind at the upper portion. Further objects and advantages of our invention will appear from the detail description.

In the drawing:- Figure 1 is a side view of a railway car illusootrating a door opener and closer embodying our invention and being used for opening the door of the car;

Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure 1 showing the opener and closer as used for closing the door;

which is rotatably mounted a pulley 11 upon a 5 1 shaft 12 suitably supported in the block. The rear portion of block 10 is open to accommodate a flexible member in the form of a chain 13 which passes about the pulley and is windable thereabout, this chain being provided at one end with a hook 14 secured to the chain by a swivel 15, and at its other end with a hand ring 16. Block 10is provided at the forward end thereof with a hook 17 and, adjacent the hook,

with an offset 18 in which is pivoted a gravity pawl 19 provided, at its outer end, with a weight element 20. a

In Figure l we have shown our door-opener as used for opening a door at of a railway car 0. The door is provided with a handle 71. of known 30 type and secured thereto in a known manner, and the car is provided, adjacent each end thereof, with a plurality of rungs r secured to the car in a known manner and forming a ladder.

In theuse of the door opener, hook 1'? is en'- 5 gagedthrough the door handle h and hook 14 may be engaged with one of the rungs 1 of the ladder spaced from the door in the direction of opening movement thereof, or the chain maybe passed through the rung and the hook 14 engaged about the chain. Conveniently, in applying the opener, hook 17 is first engaged about the door handle it so that the pulley block 10 is suspended from the handle in substantially vertical position, with the hook above the block. In this position of the pulley block, the weight element 20 of pawl 19 serves to hold the latter in inoperative position and in contact with shoulder 21 of block 10. This permits of rotation of pulley 11 in a clockwise direction, as 160 viewed in Figure 3, so that the chain 13 can readily be drawn through the pulley block to a sufiicient extent for securing it to the selected rung 1'.

In its full closed position, door 01 may extend ley and the rung to which the chain is attached is taken up by grasping hand ring 16 and pulling the chain over the pulley. The pulley block then occupies the position shown in Figures 1 and l, at which time pawl 19 bears upon the chain and serves to hold the latter against reverse movement around the pulley while also holding the pulley against reverse rotation. The door may now be opened by grasping the ring 16 and pulling thereon in the di-- rection indicated in Figure 1, it being noted that a mechanical advantage of two to one is obtained, since the pulley is attached to the door. If: the force thus exerted 'is insufficient to open the door, the chain may be grasped between the pulley and the rung to which the chain is secured, as at the point B indicated by the arrow, and pulled away from the body of the car as indicated by the dotted lines in Figure 1. This gives a greatly increased mechanical advantage, which may be as much as ten to one, and serves to force the door open. If the door is in load condition and tends to tilt and bind, it can be subjected to a series of sudden pulls or jerks in thismanner, the slack in the chain between the pulley an the block being taken up, after each pull, by winding the chain over the pulley by means of the hand ring 16; In this manner, one man can quickly open the door d of the car, even though this door be in exceptionally bad condition and tends to tilt and bind in the guideways therefor. It will be understood that the door dis slidably mounted in suitable guides, these guides being omitted for clearness of illustration, the car being shown more or less diagrammatically in Figures 1 and 2.

In Figure 2 the door 51 is shown in full open position. In order to close the door, the chain 13 is secured to one of the rungs r adjacent the other end of the car, the hook 17 of block 10 being engaged over handle it at the opposite end thereof from that shown in Figure 1. The door is then moved into closed position either by pulling on the hand ring 16 or by subjecting the door to a series of jerks or pulls, in the manner previously described. It is to be noted that in opening the door no preliminary open-- 1. In a device for opening and closing the door of a railway car provided with a door having a handle and with a structure anchored to the car remote from the door, a pulley block and a pulley therein, a hook secured to said block and adapted for engagement with the handle, a flexible member passing over said pulley and provided at one end with a hook adapted for engagement with said structure, the pulley block being disposed substantially horizontal and the flexible member forming an upper run extending "from the upper portion of the pulley and attached to said structure and a lower run extending from the lower portion of the pulley, in the use of the device, said upper run being disposed to be grasped by one hand of the operator for exerting pull thereon and thereby moving the door and said lower run being disposed to be grasped by the operators other hand for taking up slack in the upper run in accordance with movement of the door, and a gravity pawl disposed at the upper portion of the pulley block in the use of the device and cooperating with said pulley and the flexible member for at all times preventing reverse movement of the pulley and said member during normal use of said device, said pawl being disposed to be moved into inoperative position when the pulley block is in suspended position from the door handle and in substantially vertical position.

2. In a device for opening and closing the door of a railway car provided with a door having a handle'and with a structure anchored to the car remote from the handle, a pulley block and a pulley therein, a member secured to said block and adapted for loose engagement with the handle for attaching the block thereto, a flexible member passing over said pulley, the pulley block being disposed substantially horizontal and the flexible member forming an upper run extending from the upper portion of the pulley and a lower run extending from the lower portion of the pulley, one of said runs having its end remote from the pulley attached to said structure anddisposed to be grasped by one hand of the operator for exerting pull thereon and thereby moving the door, and the other run being disposed to be grasped by the operators other hand for taking up slack in the first mentioned run in accordance with movement of the door, in the use of the device, and a pawl mounted on the block and movable by gravity into cooperating relation to said pulley and the flexible member for preventing reverse movement thereof during normal use of said device,

said pawl being movable by gravity into in 

